


the beast knows neither fear nor lust of pursuit

by euphonious



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gore, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, i guess?, yee..
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:15:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2703398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euphonious/pseuds/euphonious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightmares come too easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the beast knows neither fear nor lust of pursuit

**Author's Note:**

> firstly why the heck are there so few arima/haise stuff here....what is this...  
> secondly i hope you enjoy this! if you have any thoughts, pls comment then, even if its a criticism because it rly helps me as a writer, thank you! x

"Checkmate, Haise."

The smooth break of silence from Arima's voice and the clink of glass against glass pulls the young investigator out of his daze. He starts with a small jump, eyes flicking from his folded hands across to the chess board lying on the coffee table and his back straightens with a collection of audible cracks and pops. The chess board, styled with alternating squares of frosted and clear glass, displays an almost pitiful game. Arima, barely suffering any casualties and then Haise with only his king and a cluster of pawns remaining. Not that he was bad at chess, usually their games would result in stalemates or both with equal wins, there's just been other things on his mind this time.

Maybe plaguing his mind would fit better.

"Haise...," Arima speaks out again and Haise's despondent expression melts away as he realized he's still staring at the chessboard, most likely fallen back into his daze.

"Ah, sorry. Did you say I was in checkmate?"

"Yes," Arima's thin brows furrow, "you're lacking today. Is something bothering you?"

"Of course not! I'm fine...ah, just tired. You know, after the other day..," Haise replies blithely while his left hand raises to rub at his chin. Arima barely needs to glance at the ghoul to know that he's unabashedly lying. He won't press the issue though, unless or until it starts to interfere with Haise's attentiveness when working with the CCG.

"That's understandable. Do you want to leave then?"

"No! I'm fine. Let's play again, I'll pay attention this time," Arima gives him a skeptical stare, "I promise!"

"Okay." And with that, Haise moves quickly to re-position the pieces on the board while Arima silently observes him. He worries for the boy, he worries for Haise's well-being more than he should. More so these days. Often, Arima recalls that brutal event in V14 with Haise's former self and remembers his agonized screams after Ixa was run through his left eye and the complete breakdown of his existence. It's something the elder won't ever forget.

And Arima hopes that Haise will never find those memories locked away in the recesses of his mind.

"Ah, Arima?"

* * *

 

 

Arima has been sitting across from the sofa which Haise's sleeping form lays for a small number of hours now, re-reading Kafka's 'A Crossbreed'. The short story troubles him greatly and he knows why and he doesn't like it. The book hits too close to home, too close to himself and Haise.

Haise, his little crossbreed of lamb and kitten. It's almost sickening.

Arima sighs forlornly and snaps the book shut. He leaves it on the coffee table as he exits the living room of his home for a coffee, leaving Haise to sleep peacefully or so he believes.

Haise has only been asleep for a few hours when his nightmare begins. The same nightmare he's suffered for nights on end. A nightmare which has become more frequent after the confrontation with Serpent

And so it starts. With darkness. Thick, suffocating darkness. It crushes him, forces the air out of his fighting lungs and leaves him gasping for air. And while he gasps like a fish discarded on the sand, black fades to grey, grey fades to white. Then he sees him. The thing in his mind. That monster. It always slowly approaches him, like a predator going in for the kill, savouring the fear of it's prey.

It has his face, has his body, has his voice. He's the monster, the monster is him.

He closes his eyes tight.

As the nightmare progresses, the monster circles behind him, slithers up and it's hands move over his shoulder blades with feather soft touches and then slide up to caress his neck, next his jaw. He's always too scared to move. He never tries to escape until the monster's fingers ghost over his cheeks and then start to force their way into his eyes.

Wretched screams tear out of his throat as he struggles to pull away the hands crushing his eyes. Haise thrashes, heaves and throws his body violently to force it off. He never succeeds and he goes rigid when the squelch of bloody gore hits his ears and viscous red flows from his eye sockets onto his cheeks. He howls in agony while the monster laughs. He can't see, but his eyes, what remains, burn. They burn too much for him to bear and Haise claws at the remnants, fingers curve into the sockets and he scoops out what's left, throws it away and screams.

He screams for his mother. The mother he can't remember. The stench of blood makes him want to vomit and his monster laughs. He begs and he pleads for it to stop the torture. Haise can hear and feel it licking the blood off of his face, it's wet tongue delving into the empty holes in his head. The sensation makes him writhe and scramble blindly to escape. But, the creature holds him down and uses it's foul mouth to tear chunks out of his flesh. Once it is sated, his monster drags him up onto his weak legs and starts to spin him around in a dance. A blind dance which fills his entire being with terror as he can't see the monster. Can't predict what it's going to do to him next.

It encircles his body with it's beastly kagune and it's numerous tendrils slowly start to impale him and crush his bones into splinters. It’s excruciating, Haise can hear the crack of each bone perfectly and he wants to die.

* * *

 

Arima returns after a while with a new cup of coffee and a different book. He pauses for a moment to regard Haise; he’s still fast asleep on the sofa with his arm slung out so his fingertips brush against the floor and Arima sends a small smile his way and moves to sit down when Haise lets out a muffled whimper.

"...Mother, mother, please...," Haise rasps out in his slumber and Arima grimaces, he’s been told about this briefly. Haise had changed the subject as quickly as he could, " it hur..ts, make it sto-."

Haise's sentence is cut short as he gives a pained yell, sharp and short.

“IT HURTS!” and he starts to convulse. Arima immediately starts to shake him, he knows things could turn very sour if Haise continued with the torment happening in his mind. He pulls the boy up to sit against the sofa and continues to shake his shoulders.

"Haise, I need you to wake up," Arima speaks clearly and loudly, not quite shouting, but it has no affect. Haise's convulsions gradually become more violent and Arima murmurs an apology before slapping him hard across the face. Haise's eyes snap open and his left has adopted a kakugan.

Haise gasps heavily, hands flying up to cloak his eyes and he throws his head back. Arima exhales slowly and sits beside Haise. He doesn't speak, instead he waits for Haise to. The boy's still shaking, but it's because he's crying. Quite badly too, his chest heaves and Arima thinks for a moment that Haise may be hyperventilating. He sits quietly as the younger tries to calm himself down.

Arima also realizes he covered his eyes to mask his tears not the kakugan. He probably hadn't even realized.

"I'm so sorry, Arima. I'm so sorry..," Haise chokes out, "Oh, god. Did I hurt you?!" he almost shouts, hands flying from his face to tightly grasp Arima's arm.

"No, you didn't," he reassures him and Haise lets out a shaken sigh, "what about yourself? Do you want to talk about it?"

The mention of discussing whatever he just suffered through turns his devastated expression to one of terror and Arima finds the young investigator's head pressed against his chest and shaking hands clutching his shirt. He's surprised to say the least.

"Please, no. Don't make me. Please."

"Of course. Haise, it's okay. You're completely safe now," Arima murmurs gently and Haise collapses against him, sobbing raw and anew, and he doesn't know how to react to this. He goes with what feels natural and pulls Haise's trembling form to lean against his side. The half ghoul doesn't object and he presses his face into Arima's chest.

An arm gradually comes to rest around Haise's waist, fallen down from around his shoulders and he tenses, the memory of...it still fresh in his mind. That arm moves away and he shakes his head.

"S'okay. Sorry..," Haise mumbles into his chest and Arima's raises an eyebrow before his arm returns to it's position around Haise's waist for a while. Eventually, Arima's other hand comes up to brush through his hair. It's calming and Haise can feel himself slowly falling back asleep. He thinks he'll be okay this time. He knows he'll be completely fine as long as Arima's around.


End file.
